Aibu to consider buying a static caravan?

[allotmentgardener]

Children are 1 and 3, and we like to get away in the UK 2 or 3 times a year. I suggested buying a static caravan. DH scoffed and exclaimed what a ridiculous idea. Investigation reveals that letting it can offset the site costs. Mumsnet people regale me with your knowledge!

Kitchens & bathrooms in tourers can be as good as statics, if you get one with a big fridge freezer & separate shower, if you book on a super pitch you have constant water supply & drainage, some have 40 litre hot water tanks as well. Alde wet central heating is as good as the heating at home & can be programmed.

We’ve looked into this as I don’t work in the summer so could basically disappear with the kids and dh could join us at weekends. I just checked some sites about an hour away on the coast and the yearly fees are £6000

I share on with my parents, sadly it is in France so I haven’t been at all this year.

Ours is still happily on a site owned by a big firm despite being 13 years old. It’s in good repair so they haven’t insisted we replace it.

We don’t let it out. Too many friends on site have found red wine stains or broken beds after letting out through the companies- the company accepts no liability for this damage and refuses to cover the cost. Yes- this is a firm which trades in the U.K. and across Europe.

Perhaps a tourer is the way to go...

I think it is worth checking out the sites. The more facilities, the higher the annual cost.

My cost is less than £2400 and includes rates, water and sewage and pitch fees. There are no additional facilities on our small site ( apart from central bins). Personally I would not want a social club and wouldn't use pools so I'm pleased to not paying for them!

My site is managed by a small local company who have a number if small sites in the area. The only thing that would tempt me to sell would be if a small plot of land became available and I could put a lodge on it.

My parents had one. It was a money pit & it got tedious really quickly. I like visiting different places so would go for a camper van.

Also, yes to annoying, loud, drunken people outside the other caravans. Happens a lot!

@BeginningBridge

I bought a static caravan nearly 3 years ago and it was one of my best decisions. I bought a second hand static with then 10 years left on the license. Depreciation is £1300 pa, site fees £2300 pa, gas about £70, electricity about £50 and insurance £200.

So for less than £4K we have a second home. Our static is on the coast by my dc's watersports club. They are late teens/early 20s and love it. This summer in particular, they are spending their days sailing, windsurfing etc.

We can use it 8 months of the year, we cannot kept it out commercially but sometimes lend it to friends/family. Most people on the small site also take part in water sports.

I know these costs are relative but we used to own a boat and that really was a money pit!

Do you mean £4K "a year"? What about the cost of the caravan in the first place, regardless of depreciation?

Remember to factor in tax if you let it out.

@londonscalling

"Do you mean £4K "a year"? What about the cost of the caravan in the first place, regardless of depreciation?"

My caravan was £13,000 and 10 years old (and beautifully looked after by the previous owners). When I bought it I could use it for another 10 years (possibly longer), so the £1300 is my annual depreciation cost which I included in the £4k.

I am not sure what the value would be if I wanted to sell it now.

Tax is only an issue if your business shows a profit. It is 10% on profit after all costs have been taken out as long as it’s been let for 105 days. I think we’ll not end up pay much tax as utilities etc can be offset against income.

Perhaps a tourer is the way to go... @allotmentgardener It seems like a good way to dip your toe in, especially if you've not done much caravanning previously. You could get a cheap tourer for a few years and get a feel for what areas you like without making the big costly commitment of a static. If you don't like it you can always sell on and after a few holidays you've likely broken even on what you've paid out.

We had one for a few years. I'd say your kids are the right age for it.

Our park in Carmarthenshire was small and owners only, family run with no fancy amenities. As such it was lovely and quiet, no loud drinking or anything (apart from neighbours having the odd summer bbq). There was a play park for the little kids and a small muga for football. The location was amazing, you literally walked out the park gates onto the sand dunes and a glorious beach without even crossing a road. A mile or so along the coast path was a great country park and seven mile long beach. I miss it!

The reason we sold it was because our teens got too big for the beds, they never wanted to go because there was crap wifi and no sky tv or anything, but they were just too young to leave at home alone. And tbh we all got a bit bored of the same place for every break.

It was expensive. We paid £12000 for the 7 year old van, site fees and bills came to about £3k/year. We didn't let it out as we wanted the convenience of leaving our stuff there and the park didn't allow letting officially although family and friends could use it. In the end we sold it for £8K 3 years later so it cost us a total of £13k for three years of holidays for a family of 4. We were restricted to school holidays because of the kids. Going at weekend seems like a good idea, but in reality the kids usually had made some plans with friends or had a party or something so we couldn't go.

All in all I'm glad we had those years but I don't think it was a bargain, and we were on a very cheap site.

Interesting . I had not heard of seasonal sites for tourers . That seems like a good option .

So with seasonal pitches for tourers is insurance expensive ?

Depends on where it is. Although it's probably better to get a lodge rather than a static caravan. We have a lodge built in the 1980s on a popular site in a World Heritage Area. We use it a lot and it hasn't depreciated but it's a lodge. The site fees are high but it's a great resort that's perfect for really bad weather days.

We love it! Really worked on kitting it out well. We only told my side of the family we have it (they live abroad, anyway) because DH's sister is a legendary pisstaker who has trashed loads of our stuff in the past; they just think we keep going to the same place (have the time we don't even tell them we're there as they live in another town).

But if you're not able to afford it unless you rent it out I'd definitely not do it. I'd go for the tourer option instead, as suggested.

Our site has really good WiFi and you can have satellite as well. Our kids look forward to going and have even gone on their own.

I know someone, who brought a static, paid 35k got fed up with it after a couple of years, paying 2.5k a year in site fee, were offered 14k, avoid would be my advice.

My parents had one about 1 hour drive away. It had a fishing lake which was the draw. However, after a few years the people next to them started having rowdy teenagers over so they decided to sell. They had to sell it through the site and got a pittance for it (I thin they got £7000 for a van bought for £25000 less than 5 years before. The fees increased every year and they would have had to replace it after 10 years if they wanted to keep their prime spot.

So with seasonal pitches for tourers is insurance expensive ? @SusieOwl4 I don't think there's a legal requirement to have insurance as your car insurance would cover you for third party when towing. When I did a few calulations a couple of years back on a cheap tourer, insurance for theft and damage seemed quite reasonable, cheaper than my car insurance anyway!

Buy a sleep in beach hut instead! They always go up in value and you will be right on the beach!

Nice enough to stay in, but yeah, potential money pit. I think you either need to rent it out or stay there for a significant chunk of the year (eg if you're a wealthy pensioner) for it to be worth it.

Fundamentally a static caravan is a fairly expensive thing you own, that's difficult to move, on land someone else owns. The site owner ends up with all the power in that business relationship.

That's the other issue, if you get a bad site, you get anti-social behaviour and the owners do nothing about it. And basically if you do it on the cheap you'll end up on a site that attracts a certain type of renter/holidaymaker who can ruin your enjoyment.

When I did a few calulations a couple of years back on a cheap tourer, insurance for theft and damage seemed quite reasonable, cheaper than my car insurance anyway!

Well it’s not as if a thief is going to make a quick getaway on a brick-on-wheels that is a caravan

The tourer option does sound quite appealing though, apart from people giving you dirty looks when they overtake you on the dual carriageway.

We keep considering it and if I wasn’t servicing a load of car loan debt I think we would have gone for one.
Kids are 8 and 3 figure we could use it for 10+ years but would need to hire out to cover costs and the most lucrative time to do that would be in the holidays we would be looking to use it

To be honest I’ve even been looking at two-bedroom flats in the area that we would’ve been considering because at least at the end of that you would own something

I could never have a tourer my husband wouldn’t drive it and so it would be down to me every time

You need to really love where it is and want to spend much of your free time there.

To the extent the money becomes not relevant,

We had friends who had one and we didn’t understand it, just saw huge expense, but they loved it and saw it as a second home. It was lovely though, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, living room, little dining area, decking, but was still very much a caravan, you’d never have though you were in an actual house. They fully kitted it out with sofa, tv,curtains, all kitchen stuff, lots of little knick knacks, furniture for the decking etc.

I think renting it out becomes bit like you own a time share. You can’t leave all your stuff there, personalise it, you just become like any other renter except it’s more expensive for you, so kinda defeats the purpose really, and you can’t impulsively decide to go or stay longer if you’ve rented it out.

So I’d say pick somewhere you love and want to spend your weekends for the next twenty years, and only do it if you can afford it and don’t need to get into renting it out to randoms, but can turn it into your own home from home.